Begin impounding driving licenses of habitual traffic offenders as well as others with a record of reckless driving.

Muscat: The Royal Oman Police (ROP) has begun impounding the driving licenses of habitual traffic offenders as well as others with a record of reckless driving.

According to a top ROP official, the measure has begun to have a deterrent effect on offenders unfazed by financial fines alone. Lt Col Ahmad Bin Sultan Al Nabhani, Assistant Director-General of Traffic, said the practice of suspending driving licenses for specific periods or impounding them altogether is producing the desired results.

Traffic violations are criminal acts that must be stopped at all costs if public safety on the roads is to be ensured, Lt Col Al Nabhani declared in a statement to local media on Friday. He said the most serious accidents typically involved youngsters at the wheel – a trend not limited to Oman alone but across the wider world. Overcrowding was also seen to be a factor in crashes resulting in horrific death tolls, he noted.

In his statement, Lt Col Al Nabhani also warned drivers of school buses against overloading their vehicles. He urged them to make their pick-ups and drop-offs at safe designated points to ensure that children do not have to cross busy roads to board their buses. The monitoring of school buses, the official stated, will be pursued in close collaboration with the Ministry of Education.

Oman has been cracking down on unsafe drivers in a bid to combat a rising trend in road-related fatalities and injuries. Last month, authorities revealed that national accident trends put Oman’s roads among the world’s most dangerous.